Too late
by Izume Hope
Summary: After his parents died Masaya has decided to put an end to his life, as well as to that of his beloved Ichigo. Ichigo, however, doesn't quite agree and has decided to die on her own. Then a third person interferes. KxI one-shot. Warning, there are weapons


**I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew or its characters.**

He sits on the couch, two loaded guns in his hands. The girl in front of him stares at the weapons without emotion. The metal seems to shine in the dimmed light that tries to slip in through the closed curtains. Her eyes move from the guns to the face of the young man that holds them. His look shows a combination of bewilderedness and certainty. He is sure about his actions. He has no doubts, no regrets. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. There's no fear.

With the girl, on the other hand, there is a lot of fear. She doesn't show it, of course, but she's terrified while she feels the last seconds of her life slowly slipping away. She has to look away and hugs herself tightly. The young man looks at her. "Can I…" she asks carefully "Can I have a moment for myself before we go?". He smiles at her, tenderly. "Of course, love. Take your time. I understand".

He doesn't. He doesn't understand. He understands nothing. He knows nothing. He doesn't know her. He doesn't know what she wishes for. She doesn't want to die. She wants to live. He's wrong. She doesn't want to escape from this world with him. She wants to live on this world without him.

It started a few years ago, when his parents died in a car accident. The first months he went completely nuts, trying to find the one responsible, desperate for someone or something to blame. When he couldn't find it, he calmed down again. Or so it seemed. But actually it was already over. He'd already decided what he was going to do. He just needed a chance to say goodbye and inform the girl. It was clear that she was going down with him.

She didn't stand a chance. If she'd said no, he would have killed her right on the spot. Or that's what it seemed. She'd always thought him to be calm and smart, but he lost his composure completely.

She couldn't even entirely blame him.

That changed when he changed. He changed slowly, inconspicuously, but obviously for her to see. More violent. More moody. Less realistic. Less him. After two to three years the boy she once loved had died. In his place was a young man she didn't recognise, a stranger. Someone she'd never love.

But he wouldn't let her leave him. He didn't give her the time.

It came so suddenly. He just said it one day. "Next week we're going. Say goodbye to your parents". She immediately freaked out and wanted to contact her friends, but didn't. She saw him capable of killing them all. So she started her goodbye.

It was hard. So hard. But she had been clear yesterday.

"Retasu?". The girl had turned around and smiled at her. "Yes?". They were standing behind the shop, on their way home already. The sun had been setting. It was the last sunset she'd ever see and she was aware of it. She had walked towards Retasu and handed her a letter with a name on it. "Send it to him, please". "Of course" Retasu answered and she smiled as Ichigo squeezed her in a tight hug. "Goodbye…". "Yes, I'll see you tomorrow". "Yes. Tomorrow. Of course". But there was no tomorrow anymore. There was only today. Today and the end.

She was frightened. So frightened. But she had done what he had had to do. She wrote him a terribly long letter, apologising for leaving him so suddenly. They have had quite some contact in the past few years and even more in the past few months. She's afraid he might have gotten his hopes up, but she couldn't stop herself from talking to him.

In a strange way she doesn't understand, she needed him. That's when she realised she loves him. A second later she realised it was already too late. She'd let her chance slip by years ago, when he came to visit just after she had figured out Masaya wasn't Masaya anymore. She could have gone with him then. Yet she didn't. she stayed here, with this monster, and barely ever talked to him.

That really was a foolish thing to do, wasn't it?

Now she's here, on the edge of being killed and never being able to see him again. And what does she do? She reflects on things she can never change. It's too late, Ichigo, accept that.

"Thank you". She forces herself to smile at him and walks into a room next to the one he's in. There she calmly closes the door behind herself, on which she pushes herself to the wall, as if she's afraid he'll try to barge in. She's out of breath and a desperate look finds its way into her eyes.

She knows there's no escape. She knows what she's going to do. After standing against that wall for a while she finally calms down again.

Hey, what's going on? She knew this was going to happen, right? She has a plan, right? Then why is she acting so strange?

It's not as if she ever had a chance.

Slowly the girl walks towards the drawer in the left side corner of the room. She has her backup plan, right? Her fingers tremble as her hand reaches out to the drawer and open it. In the middle of it stands a little jar filled with all different kinds of pills. She's spent years collecting them all. It wasn't very hard. She only had to pretend to be sick a couple of times so she could get them from the doctor. Now she's got enough to end this all.

Die with him? In his arms? Never. If she really has no choice, if she really has to die, then she'll die alone. She's decided that a long time ago.

She takes out the jar of the drawer and walks towards a bed in another corner of the room. Her fingers won't stop trembling as she opens it and takes out the first pills. She has no idea what for they are. As she stares at her way out in the palm of her hand she thinks of him.

Him.

She hasn't even had the chance to tell him goodbye in person.

She startles when a tear falls onto one of the pills and quickly wipes it away. She doesn't know what effect it'll have on the pill and she can't risk the outcome of this.

Nevertheless…

She doesn't want to die. She really, really doesn't want to die. She loves life. Life is beautiful. She has her friends and her parents and her school and her powers and all those other things that make life so amazing. Why would she want to die? There's no reason!

Her hand begins to tremble more heavily until some of the pills fall off. She picks them up again and puts them back in their place. Tears keep dripping down her face and she tries her hardest to keep herself from sobbing. It causes her to utter strange soft sounds.

"Ichigo? What are you doing in there? It's time". Ichigo startles again and looks up to the door with widened eyes. No. He can't come in. He can't come in and stop her. He can't.

She looks back down at the pills in her hand and grabs a glass of water from the bedside table. "Ichigo? Ichigo!". He now begins to knock on the door. She can hear he's losing his temper. She doesn't want to see him with lost temper ever again. She closes her eyes and prays for her salvation, on which she takes the pills and drinks the water. "Ichigo, I'm coming in!".

That's when she panics. That's when she panics and puts the jar to her lips. She lets the pills slip in one by one and drinks a little water every two seconds. She begins to feel dizzy. "Ichigo…". His voice is threatening by now. Ichigo cries and begins to lose conscience.

But just before everything turns black more things happen than she expected. She sees a someone sitting in front of her. She doesn't recognise him, it's getting so dark. "It's going to be alright…" he whispers and he lifts her off the floor. At the same time someone she _does_ recognise barges in. He looks bewildered, like a beast. His eyes widen in shock. The jar slips out of her hand and falls onto the ground, breaking to pieces. Then the black has won.

She doesn't know how long it takes before the blue arrives and paints the black away. Quite some time, she thinks. But she can't really think clearly at the moment. Her head aches, although that gets less painful every second now. It's the blue that takes the pain away, she knows that. She realises her eyes are closed, so she opens them.

The whole world is indeed blue. Light blue, to be precise. With little sparks everywhere. She sits up straight and follows one of the sparks with her eyes. It's pretty… The spark comes closer and closer, until she's a little afraid. "Nya?". She moves to the side a little to let the spark pass, but it won't let her go. It just changes direction and keeps on closing in to the point it has reached her chest and moves inwards.

It remembers her of the cat that came into her body when she got her powers. It's just as warm as the cat was. She would swear she hears something meow inside of her.

The warmth spreads throughout her whole body, embracing her in the light blue light. She closes her eyes again and enjoys the feeling. It's good.

Mew Aqua. It's good.

Again she doesn't know how much time has passed since the last time she had a clear mind. She only immediately notices that the pain in her head is gone and so is the light blue world. As far as she can see the world is black again. Not the frightening, intoxicating black like before, but the normal black of when you've closed your eyes but aren't asleep. She can hear someone breathe.

Carefully Ichigo opens her eyes a little, afraid that her headache might return. She notices she's laying somewhere, because she's looking up to the sky. The light blue is slowly turning into the dark blue of the night. She can already see some stars, though she also still sees the red of the setting sun from the corner of her eyes.

Is it already this late? How long has she slept?

She moans a little and brings up her hand to her head. A long time, she thinks. She feels like she's really slept a long time.

Beside her something moves and a shadow falls over her body. "Good, you're awake. You scared me there for a moment, kitty".

Kitty? Did someone just call her kitty? No one calls her kitty… Especially not a boy… That was a boys voice just now, right? Then it has to be Masaya's, he's the only boy she speaks to nowadays. But it's not his, she's sure of that. Moreover, Masaya would never call her kitty. It only reminds him of that-unworthy-alien-bastard-that-he-would-not-mind-to-see-die-a-slow-and-painful-death-moreover-kill-personally. Or something like that.

Then maybe she heard it wrong? Is she imagining things again? Lately she's had the feeling she might be hallucinating. Maybe Masaya's illness has finally gotten to her too.

"Whoa, kitty, do we have contact? Jeez, you're so absent-minded… Well, that's what you get from taking too much drugs. You should be thankful I had some Mew Aqua on me, otherwise you'd probably be dead by now. Hello? Ichigo? Iiiichiiigoooo?". "Stop blabbering…" Ichigo manages to utter "Where am I? Who are you? You're not… You're not Masaya…". "Hell no!" the voice exclaims indignantly "Thank God I'm not him! Did you see that guy? He had guns! Guns! He was going to shoot you! The bastard…". "Where was I again?". Ichigo rubs over her eyes with her wrists and tries to sit up straight. Two strangely familiar hands help her up and support her. Her body feels like pudding. "Somewhere they won't find us". Ichigo tries to get a clear sight of the person that the voice belongs to, but her sight is blurred by something. Her mind feels like its stuffed with clouds. "Who are you?". "Who am I? What kind of question is that? Did you forget me already? You're so cruel… That's why I said to stay away from the drugs!". "Drugs…?". She can't remember anything at all. It's all so blurry and foggy. Yes… As if there's fog all around her memories…

"Hey, Ichigo…". Suddenly the voice has changed tone. She can hear that he smiles a sad smile, although she doesn't know how she can know that, and he sounds sweet. One of the hands stops supporting her and she startles a little when she feels a thumb wiping away some liquid from under her eye. "You can stop crying now… It's over…". "Cry…ing…". O, that's why she can't see anything. Quickly she blinks to get rid of the tears, but they're immediately replaced by knew ones. She blinks again and again and again, but they won't stop coming. Eventually it has saddened her so much that she begins to sob. And sob. And sob. The arms that are supporting her press her to a chest that also feels sickeningly familiar. The hands stroke her hair. "Don't worry… It's alright… It's over now… I'm here…". "You're here…" he stammers between two sobs "You're really here...!".

It's him, isn't it? It's him and he's come to save her. But… how?

"How? How? I sent it… I sent it yesterday! You can't be… you can't be so fast…". "Heh. Of course I can". "But… how…?". "Power of love?". "Love…?". "Yeah, you know, the feeling you get when I'm near? It's called love". "O… Right…". She can feel that he sighs. He keeps on stroking her hair until she's completely calmed down again. And now, as the tears have stopped, she moves away from him so she can finally look him in the eye.

His face looks so… so perfect, in a way. Like he's an angel or something else that resembles all salvation. A slight breeze plays with the tresses of his hair and he has a little smile around his lips. "Hey" he says. She smiles as she feels the tears taking over her eyes again. "Hey". "Long time no seen, ne, kitten?". "Indeed. Long time no seen, Kish". "Is your mind back to normal again?". "It's making progress". He laughs softly. "Good. You're way cuter when you're not under drugs". She feels her cheeks begin to redden. "T-thank you, I suppose". "Now, if you don't mind…". Suddenly he pulls her back to his chest and nuzzles his face in her hair. "K-kish…?". "Never, ever, do something like this again. What on earth were you thinking?". She blinks. He hasn't… He hasn't got the right to be angry with her because of this! She frowns and tries to pull away. "What, you'd rather seen me die with him instead of alone? Well, I'm truly sorry. I'll remember it for the next time he wants to see me dead!". He knocks softly on her head. "Ouch! What did you do that f-". "One: you are never going back to him again. Never. As in never. Two: why didn't you just run? You could have just left the bastard, if not years ago then at least now! How could you just accept to die with him?". He holds her even tighter, until he can hardly breathe. He clearly can't take the thought of losing her to someone like him through something like this. She can't help but smile. How can she explain this to him? How can she explain to him that she really couldn't run? That she would have always lived in fear? That she couldn't… leave the boy she once loved… in the arms of monster he had become… How can she explain that to him?

She can't.

"I'm sorry…". Her voice almost drowns in guilt and apology. He sighs and loosens his grip again. "Fine. I can't stay angry with you anyway. You're way too attractive". "Could you… stop saying that?" she asks a little embarrassed "It's disturbing". He takes her face in his hand and brings his own closer to it. "But you are". For a second she can't move. Then she moves away from him. "I-I really don't know what you're talking about, Kish". He sighs once again and shakes his head a little. "I thought I had made this clear before I left a few years ago. I love you. I have loved you for a very long time. I will love you forever. I will make you love me back. That was the message, remember?". "I-I-I…". "By sending me that letter you not only scared the hell out of me, you also gave me another chance. You might have not realised, but you did. And I'm not going to let it pass me by. You're mine now, Koneko-chan". "Wow, that wasn't what I was trying to attain!". A little panicked Ichigo wrenches herself from his grip and stumbles back. "Has someone ever told you that you have the urge to go way too fast?". He smirks at her. "No, they've only called me a little rash". Ichigo blinks. "Well, then it's an honour to be the first to tell you that you go way too fast! Yours? What are you talking about? I'm not yours! I haven't even been my own yet!". He sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "Fine, fine, I get it. I'll be patient. Just don't forget that I'll get you eventually". "We'll see about that" Ichigo says under her breath. I mean, she loves him, yes, but he can't just proclaim her his! That's plainly rude! She'll first have to teach him some sort of manners before she'll give in to him…

Ichigo crosses arms and walks towards him. He awaits her fearlessly, not reacting to the stern look in her eyes. He isn't surprised when it softens and she places herself back in his willing arms. Talking about manners, she has to have them too. "I'm sorry… I haven't even properly thanked you yet…". She looks up to him and smiles. "So, thank you. Thank you, Kisshu. For saving my life again". "Always" he reacts with a smile. Then he lets go of her and stretches out a hand towards her. "Now, let me take you away from here". She blinks. "We're already away, right? I thought you said he couldn't find us here…?". He shakes his head. "No, I mean away from _here_. From the earth". Ichigo startles. "I don't want to leave the earth!". He sighs again. "It's only temporarily. Besides, it's for your own safety". "But I haven't even had the chance to say goodbye to my friends". "You have". Ichigo looks in his golden eyes and realises that she has. She's said goodbye to them already. Their goodbye has only gotten less definite. She looks up to the sky and then back to the boy in front of her. "You're right" she says softly. He smiles at her. "I know. Now come". Ichigo stares at the outstretched hand for a moment before she puts her hand in his. "Yes" she says "I'm coming".


End file.
